News

Dozens of complaints have been launched over an Islamic advertising campaign claiming the 'Messiah has come'.

Launched by the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, a heavily persecuted minority Muslim sect, a series of billboards in London, Manchester and Glasgow aim to promote the idea, considered heretical by mainstream Islam, that the Messiah promised in the Qur'an has already come in the person of Mirza Ghulam Ahmad.

The True Islam campaign said the billboard aims to educate the public on the beliefs of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community.

But the campaign has prompted outrage from Christians, Muslims and Jews who all have notions of a 'messiah' in their beliefs and find the billboards offensive.The Advertising Standards Agency confirmed to Christian Today it has received 33 complaints so far about the adverts. A spokesman said people have claimed the post is 'misleading because they believe it is not consistent with the teachings of the Quran'.

He said: 'Due to the perceived misrepresentation of Muslim beliefs, complainants also consider the ad offensive on this basis.'

The ASA is assessing the complaints and will make a ruling this week as to whether there are grounds for further investigation.

But a spokesman for the True Islam Campaign said it was crucial Ahmadi Muslims were allowed to express their beliefs.

'Every individual and group has the right to manifest and profess their faith and to curb this would not only be a breach of basic human rights but contrary to the values of freedom of speech and expression which we cherish in this country,' Farooq Aftab told Christian Today, adding that Ahmadis are one of the oldest and most integrated Islamic community in the UK.